It is found to have been extremely difficult to determine the amount of a precious metal in an object without destroying the object involved. For example, natural gold nuggets are used in jewelry and as collector's items. A method was sought which could determine whether or not the nugget was natural and made of gold without destroying the nugget in the process.
Natural gold nuggets have a fineness which is above 700. However, the density of the nugget may be lower than that required for 700 fine gold. In attempting to analyze the nugget in the past, the following tests were generally performed:
1. Inspection of general appearance and color. PA0 2. Surface grazing. PA0 3. Permanent color-wipe test. PA0 4. Presence of quartz. PA0 5. Magnetic characteristics. PA0 6. Surface bubbling of heated nugget. PA0 7. Testing the surface depth hardness with, for example, a gauge drill. PA0 8. Drilling the sample to determine color and use of drill filing material in spectrographic tests. PA0 9. Acid treatment. PA0 10. Melting temperature.
The majority of tests which are outlined above in some way injure or completely destroy the nugget. For example, one cannot adequately determine the melting point of a nugget without actually melting the entire nugget or a piece thereof. Once this is done, the aesthetic value of the product is destroyed although the gold value remains the same. This is smilarly true with surface grazing, surface bubbling, drilling and acid treatment.
It is thus an object of the invention to determine whether or not an object such as a gold nugget is natural.
It is a further object of the present invention to determine whether or not a nugget is natural and the quality of gold found therein without practicing the tests which can harm or destroy the nugget as outlined above.